Breath of the Wild "The History of the Royal Family of Hyrule"

[Ventus]

In Switch Presentation Trailer, an oba-chan says "the history of the royal family of Hyrule is also the history of the calamity ganon: a primal evil that has endured over the ages."

But the way the line is delivered from the voicework to the type of voice used makes me question what it is the old woman is really saying. Is she saying that the Royal Family is evil? Is she saying calamity ganon is evil and chases the RF around? Is she one of those sheikah defectors? W
what did she mean by this?

 

[Dio]

I would imagine that because the blood of the Goddess runs in the veins of the royal family and those with the spirit of the hero and the blood of the Goddess are cursed to be followed by Ganon for all time. That is what the woman means by the history of the royal family also being the history of the Calamity Ganon.

 

[DragonEleven]

I would imagine that because the blood of the Goddess runs in the veins of the royal family and those with the spirit of the hero and the blood of the Goddess are cursed to be followed by Ganon for all time. That is what the woman means by the history of the royal family also being the history of the Calamity Ganon.

It's not specifically Ganon that they are cursed to be followed by... it's Demise's hatred, which could return in any form... it's just that Ganon is the form we've seen the most.

 

[DeactivatedUser2]

I'd like to point that the "Calamity" part of Calamity Ganon is some bull**** NOA put in. The official title in the Japanese release is Ganon, meaning the history of Royal Family is the history of Ganon, which is entirely accurate in some of the timelines.

 

[LionHardt]

I'd like to point that the "Calamity" part of Calamity Ganon is some bull**** NOA put in. The official title in the Japanese release is Ganon, meaning the history of Royal Family is the history of Ganon, which is entirely accurate in some of the timelines.

It's interesting that the localization team has that much freedom. I don't know very much about the process. Shouldn't it just be a direct translation where possible, adjusting the grammar, etc. to sound natural in English? Or is it possible that the Japanese text describes Ganon in some way that doesn't translate very well into English, so they described him as the "Calamity"?

 

[Dio]

It's not specifically Ganon that they are cursed to be followed by... it's Demise's hatred, which could return in any form... it's just that Ganon is the form we've seen the most.

Ganon is the only form we have seen.

 

[Ventus]

It's interesting that the localization team has that much freedom. I don't know very much about the process. Shouldn't it just be a direct translation where possible, adjusting the grammar, etc. to sound natural in English? Or is it possible that the Japanese text describes Ganon in some way that doesn't translate very well into English, so they described him as the "Calamity"?

1) direct translations never play out well which is why localization teams exist in the first place
2) NoA will always "localize" a game whether it's 8-4, treehouse, or whoever doing the localization. They change scripts to make it sounds more pleasing to the American Puritan™, not to the video gamer. See: Fire Emblem.
3) It makes much more sense to call a cloud of evil a sort of calamity rather than referring to it as a person. Ganon and Ganondorf aren't nebulous entities; they're pig-demon and human thief respectively and have been so for 30 years now. To refer to a swirling cloud of evil as "Ganon" would be...confusing, to say the least.

 

[trainerloganpoke]

Ganon is the only form we have seen.

Not confirmed. Potential forms include the phantom hourglass and spirit tracks villains

 

[Dio]

Not confirmed. Potential forms include the phantom hourglass and spirit tracks villains

Nintendo specifically designed Demise to connect with Ganon.

 

[Tompatuk]

I don't think 'calamity' Ganons going to be that hard to beat. Prolly so ful'o' moonshine, boy couldn'a hit tha backside of a cow with a fly swat.

What sort of name is calamity Ganon anyway? I'm expecting a few WTF moments in this game and hearing the name Calamity Ganon was the first.

 

[Dork_Link]

Phantom Ganon (OoT), Beast Ganon (TP), Puppet Ganon (WW). Even though they all have different variations of Ganon's name, they're all either controlled by or is Ganon himself in another form. I'd like to think that the floating cloud Ganon was just labelled a "Calamity" by the remaining populace of Hyrule (like the Old Man) that survived long enough to recount "Calamity Ganon's" signifigance and the scale of threat he posed that he had to be sealed inside/around the Hyrule Castle grounds.

With the info that's been revealed that yes, we CAN get to Calamity Ganon from the start of the game, that's cool and all, but I strongly feel we'll get to him, see how horribly under-powered we are to take him on, and then we'll have to journey around Hyrule to locate the means to take him out. The Master Sword? Probably. A means to turn his shadowy Calamity form into a more tangible form to face in an epic sword battle? Most likely. Remember, in Link to the Past we had to light up Ganon's room to counter his "technique of darkness" strategy he used in the final part of the battle? Once we did this, he'd be stunned long enough for us to hit him with the Master Sword and fire a Light Arrow/Silver Arrow at him. I have a strong belief that we're going to have to force him into a tangible form to be able to finally damage and defeat him.

 

[el :BeoWolf:]

"the history of the royal family of Hyrule is also the history of the calamity ganon: a primal evil that has endured over the ages."

Ganon/Demise has been a part of Hyrule's history, just as the royal family is. This quote is referencing all the times Ganon has plagued the royal family, more specifically Zelda, over the years.

 

[Aku]

^^^ Yeah, but it says 'primal evil.' That implies it's old, at it's most elemental. Would Ganondorf even be considered a 'primal evil?' Two major strikes against this being Ganondorf (and anything possibly derivative of him) is that this thing goes back to the beginning of the RF ( the RF clearly having a history prior to OoT) and that throughout the successive games, whenever Ganondorf shows up, he's progressively getting older. Meaning he's still mortal despite the ToP unnaturally extending his lifespan, and that he's going to die from old age one day.

I don't think this thing is Ganondorf. It's something far older, and maybe he's just one of the 'hosts' for it's gooey corruption.* It would explain the paradox of these people saying Ganon's been around since the beginnings of the royal family while we only first see the Dorf in OoT.

*For this 'corruption,' I theorize that this goo is like the Cordyceps fungus in ants in a way. If you are a human, you get 'infected' and this infection slowly grows and takes over your mind, will and body. Whatever good intentions you had get corrupted, and your old identity slowly. gets. eaten. away. Eventually it permanently deforms your body too (even though you can change in and out of the form at first) and all you have left is the new identity that took over: Ganon.

 

[trainerloganpoke]

^^^ Yeah, but it says 'primal evil.' That implies it's old, at it's most elemental. Would Ganondorf even be considered a 'primal evil?' Two major strikes against this being Ganondorf (and anything possibly derivative of him) is that this thing goes back to the beginning of the RF ( the RF clearly having a history prior to OoT) and that throughout the successive games, whenever Ganondorf shows up, he's progressively getting older. Meaning he's still mortal despite the ToP unnaturally extending his lifespan, and that he's going to die from old age one day.

I don't think this thing is Ganondorf. It's something far older, and maybe he's just one of the 'hosts' for it's gooey corruption.* It would explain the paradox of these people saying Ganon's been around since the beginnings of the royal family while we only first see the Dorf in OoT.

*For this 'corruption,' I theorize that this goo is like the Cordyceps fungus in ants in a way. If you are a human, you get 'infected' and this infection slowly grows and takes over your mind, will and body. Whatever good intentions you had get corrupted, and your old identity slowly. gets. eaten. away. Eventually it permanently deforms your body too (even though you can change in and out of the form at first) and all you have left is the new identity that took over: Ganon.

Essentially you're just saying what I always argue that Ganondorf is not the only incarnation of Demise.

 

[DragonEleven]

^^^ Yeah, but it says 'primal evil.' That implies it's old, at it's most elemental.

Actually, it means that it's less evolved... more animalistic, essentially... basically just referring to wild, beast-like form that Ganon appears to have been in since his return, compared to the more humanoid, intelligent forms he has taken in other games.